This is known. Why then austerity in the face of contraction? Is it stupidity?
Continue reading “The insanity of austerity during depression”
Egypt: A choice between the IMF tool or military rule
Regarding the current situation in Egypt, as with all news, it is best to avoid the American media. But it leaves us in a bind. Information is swirling about everywhere. What’s reliable? For myself, not that I even need to have an opinion but always have one anyway, I try to stick to what I know to be true, some large principles.
Egypt is ruled by its military in velvet glove fashion, that is, it is allowed apparent democratic governance, but if things get out of hand, the military cracks down. The US supplies virtually all military hardware and trains officers. Ergo, the US rules Egypt in a velvet glove fashion.
Those who write checks have power over those who endorse checks. (The same is true of Israel – it is inescapable.)
Public unrest was tripped in Egypt in 2011, some say as part of the so-called “Arab Spring.” But who can speak for mobs? They don’t think too well. General discontent led to replacement of Hosni Mubarek with Mohamed Morsi, but the US does not allow free elections where outcomes are not under control, so it was a safe bet that Morsi was a tool, as he quickly showed himself to be.
A common element of both administrations was the presence of the International Monetary Fund, and its austerity regime. It is probably safe to say that issues closest to home are what motivate people to take to the streets, and hunger, high prices, poor public services and unemployment naturally follow austerity, so that it’s not unreasonable to suggest that Egypt is in mass protest over IMF-imposed austerity.
So in reality the Egyptian people were given a choice between rule by a US puppet or rule by the US-controlled military. In taking to the streets to depose Morsi, they have effectively chosen rule by the military. There are no other options in a US client state.
It could get very ugly there. Moon Of Alabama, as always, offers insight and many varied voices on the matter. It’s a dangerous situation, but at least the fraudulent nature of Egyptian democracy is exposed. Perhaps it will be here someday too.
______________
Update: Washington’s apparent choice to replace Morsi is Mohamed El Baradei, like Obama, a Nobel Laureate. However, there is a backlash to yet another American puppet, so the coup faction is backing away from that choice. It must be emphasized that mere popular discontent expressed in demonstrations does not signal democratic reform, and often enough can be stimulated by factions who care even less about the native population than those in power. It’s complicated. Morsi proved himself inept in office, disappointing those who want a solid leader who serves western interests while keeping local factions in perpetual infighting.
“Camp David” freed Israel from a threat to its southern flank, allowing it to attack Lebanon and concentrate on stealing Palestine from its occupants. “Camp David” is essential to the USS Israel’s continuing threat to the region, and will not be undone. If local power does unite behind a non-western leader, a bloodbath will ensue. Egypt is too strategically vital to go it’s own way.
Thanks Obama, for a royal screwing
I am getting notices in the mail now from my health insurance carrier, Cover Colorado, a state program based on adverse selection – that is, Cover Colorado can only offer insurance to people who have been deemed potentially unprofitable by private insurers
What a country.
In October we are going to be faced with a decision – we will have many policies to choose from, offered by private insurance companies. That’s how it is framed for us. More accurately, we will be forced to choose from a wide range of crappy policies from the insurance cartel within which competitors are friends and customers are the enemy.
What a country.
Continue reading “Thanks Obama, for a royal screwing”
Obama opens a brand new can of Whoop-Ass hypocrisy
I read the following words at 4&20 and felt a sickness. It is Obama, the detestable mesmerizer, laying claim to the symbol of a man who sat in prison for 27 years courtesy of the government of South Africa, supported throughout by the United States. Here’s what our Con-Mander-In-Chief had to say:
“On behalf of our family we’re deeply humbled to stand where men of such courage faced down injustice and refused to yield. The world is grateful for the heroes of Robben Island, who remind us that no shackles or cells can match the strength of the human spirit.”
In 2008, the same year that Obama won the presidential election, Nelson Mandela was removed from the U.S. State Department terrorist “Watch List.” The absurdity of that list, with the nation that is the greatest source of terror on the planet contending that it can designate and watch other terrorists … can pass without comment. More to the point, I lack words. However, if you felt a sense of absurdity when Henry Kissinger won the Nobel Peace Prize in the face of near-genocidal behaviors, and again when Obama won it for no discernible reason, then we can agree that the award is cheap.
Nelson Mandela too won a Nobel. I think we can dispense with that prize. It doesn’t mean anything.
Nelson Mandela is a just a man. But he has also become a symbol, and because that symbol overcame apartheid, and we now all agree apartheid as practiced in South Africa is a bad thing (but OK in Palestine). In our propaganda system, it was necessary to transform Mandela from a “terrorist” to a symbol of courage and strength. So the man who presides over Guantanamo visited Robben Island and wrote the above words in the visitor’s book.
Absurdity: A statement or belief manifestly inconsistent with one’s own opinion. (Ambrose Bierce, The Devil’s Dictionary)
A land of clerks
One of the toughest things to work through as a maturing American is the notion of “democracy.” In grade school we are given a grade school definition, “… by the people for the people…” and are expected to hold on to that fairy tale notion for the rest of our lives. But life is about moving forward, growing up, and it doesn’t take long to realize that we the people, as we are right now, are no more qualified to rule ourselves than the student council at any American high school. Just like in those schools, our democracy is an illusion fostered by the faculty.
Continue reading “A land of clerks”
Western Propaganda from an Asian Perspective
This video is an hour and one-half long, so obviously I do not expect anyone to watch it. I listened to it as I was doing other things today, and enjoyed it.
It’s an “Asian” (read DPKR) view of American propaganda. As with all good propaganda, it is factual for the most part. I think some of the numbers cited are probably wrong, but why quibble about details when the piece is, like all advertising and politics, done only for effect. It spins a nasty view of the US and our consumer culture and zombie-like TV-dazed and ignorant population. (11% of our youth don’t know where the Pacific Ocean is? I hope they don’t live in California.) The voice-over woman, who sounds like Tokyo Rose, knows all of our names and faces, games and attitudes, leaders and charmers. She even know Paris Hilton, Kim Kardashian, Bradgelina, Madonna (somewhat dated on that one), computer games, advertising and other names and faces I’ve never heard of and dammit I’m an American. Who the hell is “Jordan?”
Of course, references to Great Leader are odd – is that part of their culture? Here we say “The One.”
It made my day. If by chance you do view it, you have an advantage in that you know going in that it is propaganda, something you lack when you watch American news and entertainment.
It is apparent from listening to this that Koreans know a whole lot about us, while we know nothing about them (or anyone else, for that matter).
Still skeptical about Snowden
If any are curious about whether the Edward Snowden is the real deal or a “limited hangout,” here is evidence of the latter: 
.
Real deals do not get such favorable exposure. Time Magazine is not now, was not ever, a subversive journalistic enterprise. It’s a hack news operation that almost always supports the National Security State, reporting or not reporting as the situation demands.
Case in point: Do you know of the Strange Case of Barrett Brown? He’s a man who faces life imprisonment for messing for real with NSA and corporations like Stratfor who are in-bedded therein. Not a word in Time Magazine about him.
_______________
Footnote: Naomi Wolf, who has also suggested that Snowden might not have actually left NSA employment, and so endures ridicule now from liberals, makes an interesting point that has not escaped me either:
But do consider that in Eastern Germany, for instance, it was the fear of a machine of surveillance that people believed watched them at all times — rather than the machine itself — that drove compliance and passivity. From the standpoint of the police state and its interests — why have a giant Big Brother apparatus spying on us at all times — unless we know about it?
Could it be that by doing his big reveal of what was already known, that Snowden is merely reinforcing a regime of fear?
________________
One more footnote: Time Magazine covers are like Playboy’s, each a cultural comment, one without big tits. This is my favorite of all time. It was 1999, Serbia was resisting Wall Street penetration, all kinds of behind-the-scenes manipulations were going on (including a 1996 plane crash that killed numerous US corporate executives and commerce secretary Ron Brown). In the propaganda system, to prepare the US public for an attack, it was necessary to put a face on the new enemy, and that of Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic was chosen. Time, performing its role as servant of the state, ran the cover shown here. Please notice, and it is no accident, that the “I” and the “M” in the word Time form horns on the poor slob, who was later imprisoned, and when found to be very effective in defending himself in court, was found dead in his cell. (OK, maybe you don’t think Time put horns on the enemy du jour, but I gotta ask: Why the blue face?)
_________________
(Thanks for link, BFA)
Twenty-one minutes
I long ago stopped suggesting that people read books that I have read – why would they anyway? There’s an element of “should” in there, as if one person’s work has more merit than others based on my judgment which must therefore be superior to that of others. There is an objective reality and we are all trying to find it in some fashion, but our own view of that reality is deeply mired in our own emotions and values. It’s difficult, takes time and effort, and each person’s path and effort produces a different outlook. Some are worthy, others nonsensical.
With that in mind, I humbly suggest that the reader might enjoy the podcast linked here – a twenty-one minute lecture by the late Christopher Hitchens. You get to use your own judgment about the worth of his words. My only thoughts are that the man had a well-developed mind and a sharp wit, that the talk was very entertaining, and that I miss him.
He went there
I bought a used pickup last December, and due to other preoccupations, among them laziness, I have yet to give it a thorough cleaning on the inside, top to bottom, capping it off with a little stinky cardboard pine tree. Recently, while looking for something else, I found a spent shell casing on the floor in front the driver’s seat. My mind immediately thought “Warning!”
We can all pause here and do what I did – laugh at me. It obviously belonged to the former owner, who loved outdoor activities including hunting. If I were to think that shell was meant specifically as a warning for me, I would indeed be paranoid. But I do not matter. I get to live a happy life of privilege without fear of attackers. I have no enemies capable of violence. If I die in a fire, I probably left the stove on.
Continue reading “He went there”
The greatest generation
Continue reading “The greatest generation”
Piece of Mindful 